Maximum Ride and the X-Men
by DellaLynlee
Summary: The Flock arrives in Bayville...
1. A Brief Little Thing

A Brief Little Thing...

I know I'm working on a FanFiction right now. Actually, I'm working on two, but I put the Harry Potter one on hiatus due to the amount of work I need to do to get it up, and the hating I've gotten on it.

Okay, I know I'm in the middle of a big project, but I started re-reading the Maximum Ride series so I can be ready for the "last" one. I say last like that cos of how "School's Out... Forever" was supposed to be that last one. Besides, the series, in my view, can't end without a book entitled "Iggy".

Yeah, I'm an Iggy fan. For all those girls who love Fang cos he's dark and dangerous, I say... get as far as you can from my stories. I don't focus so much on danger as I do funny scenes and lines. If you ignore this and complain later about the lack of danger, I will just direct you here. And you will see how stupid you looked.

Some months ago, I got hooked on Marvel. Before that, I was just watching the Fantastic Four movies. Before that, I was an Archie girl. Before that... I stayed the hell away from comic books.

So, I watched the Spider-man movies, and the X-Men movies, and got hooked. Since our town's used book store started carrying comic books, I started buying some... But I can't buy any right now, cos I'm saving up for Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, and since I don't have either right now, I need fan fiction to keep me going.

Anyway, the majority of my collection is Excalibur. I have a thing with Kurt Wagner, cos he has one of the best powers in the world (teleporting) and he's like my X-Men Iggy, despite what anyone would say about any other character being funnier. All I can say is, I went into [the TV show available on Netflix streaming] X-Men: Evolution going _Huh... who the hell is that?_, and went out going, _Oh, he was SO good!_

So, just let me tell you, if you didn't already guess, this will be an X-Men: Evolution/Maximum Ride crossover. I'm not sure yet, but I think the two main characters listed will be Iggy and Kurt. (Oh, man, think of it... Iggy and Gasman getting another person to pull pranks with them) I'll start with an actual real chapter, and perhaps another, and go do my Doctor Who fanfic while I wait for requests for more. Then, after ten or so positive reviews, I'll think about doing more.

Okay, so basic facts about this story:

Genre: CROSSOVER; X-Men: Evolution, Maximum Ride

Main Characters: Iggy (Maximum Ride) and Kurt Wagner (X-Men: Evolution) [?]

Time Period: Unknown. Just when the Flock is together, and when Rouge has run away again. Oh! And when the world has discovered mutants.

...Okay, that was a bit of a run-on. Hopefully my parents will give me permission to have a blog, so I can put out run-ons that necessarily don't have anything to do with my fanfiction stuff. Let's just hope my chapters will be as long as this!

So... enjoy the story and hopefully you'll have nothing but good things to say!

-Della Lynlee

(PS if I do get a blog, it'll either be on blogspot or journal, and I'll have the same username)


	2. 1

1

I ran down the streets, closely followed by the rest of the Flock.

We turned down an alleyway, hoping to loose them.

Hearing a whistle, I looked back. Fang looked me straight in the eye, and jerked a finger toward the trash bags that lined the small roadway. _The bags!_ He mouthed.

I dived into a pile of them. The rest of the Flock followed me.

I found and held Angel as we heard them coming closer and closer.

Soon, we heard voices. Of course, Iggy heard it first, but eventually all of us could hear the voices loud and clear.

"Where did those muties go?"

"I dunno... Last time I saw 'em they were turnin' down this alley,"

"You moron! You didn't see them running down it?!"

"Well, they're morons for running, with what they have!"

"Don't complement them! What if they could hear you?"

"How? Are they hiding?"

"If they're hiding, then look for them,"

"Me? Why do I have to do it?"

"You're the one who suggested it,"

"...Nah, let's just wait for another time,"

And then the voices were gone. I peeked out, saw they were gone, and motioned the others out.

Nudge snorted. "I can't believe we had to do that. That sucked! I hate running from mean kids," she looked at Iggy. "Unfortunately, _somebody_ revealed us."

Iggy looked in her direction. "Yeah, I'm to blame, cos I can see hand signals,"

"Well, you revealed your wings-"

"Hey!" I yelled. "Stop it! It's no one's fault! We shouldn't be snapping at each other at a time like this. Let's just find a place to stay for the night, and then in the morning, we can go find a place safer than Bayville,"

Fang snorted. "Like that's an option,"

"Yeah," Nudge added. "How those boys were talking, I think the whole world knows about mutants,"

"I hate whoever revealed mutants," Angel muttered.

I held her tight. "Me too, sweetie,"

Nudge looked around. "Well, I'm certainly not staying here. All these icky trash bags, and those boys might come back and find us. We need another place to stay,"

They all looked at me.

I sighed. Since I was the leader, they trusted me to find them shelter wherever we were. Well, I think we saw all of Bayville on our run away from those boys, and I didn't see any place where we could hide.

However, I had my duty as leader. Looking around, I said, "Uh, let's walk around a bit more and find a place,"

"That means you have no idea where to go," Fang said.

"Well, do you have a plan?"

"Just waiting for you to come up with one, Princess,"

I sighed and started walking further down the alleyway. Soon I heard all of them following me.

We must've walked for only five minutes before we reached the street again.

Fang turned to me. "What now, Princess?"

I sighed again. This wasn't the way things were supposed to go. When we finally found some place where the Erasers wouldn't follow us, we thought we were home free. Instead, we found out that the world not only knows about mutants, they hate us.

That scared me. I thought that when the world would know about mutants, they'd accept us and we'd all live peacefully. Now, knowing that everyone was hunting us down told me why the Erasers wouldn't step foot here.

Angel looked up at me. "Are we going to be okay?"

I hugged her. "We always turn out okay, sweetie,"

"Yeah, but I hate everything in between,"

Nudge was staring off into the distance.

"What?" I asked her.

She pointed up into the mountains. "Look at that house!"

"Oh, sure," Iggy said. "It's _beautiful_!"

The rest of us squinted to see what she saw.

"It's a huge house in the mountains," Gasman explained to Iggy. "I think it's a light color, maybe tan. There's a big dome in the front, mostly glass. There are about twenty or thirty windows on the rest of the place, three rows, so I think the house has three floors, making it a mansion. All the rest of the land, all I can see, is bare, so that means whoever owns the house probably owns a lot of property,"

Iggy nodded, picturing it, a dreamy look on his face.

"I wish we could crash that place," Nudge said.

"No way," I said.

"Why not?!"

"Think about it: A house the size of that, there are many people that live there, so that means there's always someone home. Breaking in would be a bad idea,"

"Tell that to whoever that is," Fang said, pointing.

I followed his finger and saw a figure, wearing a cloak with the hood up, sneaking around the house. Finally, they disappeared into it.

"See?" Nudge asked. "Now we _have_ to go up there!"

"And say what?" I asked. "'Oh, don't mean to alarm you, but we saw someone sneaking into your house, and that's only because we were staring at it, trying to figure out a way to sneak in ourselves',"

"Yeah, that sounds good!" Gasman said.

"Yeah, if we want to be murdered!" Iggy exclaimed. "By tomorrow, everyone would have heard about us! We have to get out of here tonight!"


	3. 2

2

The bell rang and everyone filed out of the room.

Kurt followed them, still looking out the window. He saw some kids a few miles away from the school, and for some reason, they struck him as unusual. Since they were standing still, he was able to count them: one, two, three, four, five, six.

He shrugged and finally looked away. _If they're mutants, and they live here, then Professor X would have already found them and invited them into the mansion,_ He thought. _They're probably some kids ditching school._

As he exited the classroom, a group of boys passed him.

"We almost got them!" one was saying.

Another snorted. "Yeah, right,"

"We did!" the first exclaimed. "Tell 'em, Ricky!"*

Ricky looked at the ground, and then back up. "Er, what are you talking about, Brad?"

The other boys snorted and walked away.

Brad turned to Ricky. "Why the hell didn't you defend me back there?!"

Ricky shrugged. "I don't think it's very important,"

"So? You made me look like an idiot back there!"

"No, _you _made _yourself_ look like an idiot!"

Kurt sighed and walked in the opposite direction. He hated hearing about kids torturing mutants. Ever since the X-Men had revealed mutants to the whole world, his friends couldn't even go out in public without being spotted and insulted, or sometimes worse.

But Kurt, he was safely protected from this, because of the image inducer the Professor gave him. He knew the Professor wouldn't approve of this, but he saw what his friends had to go through, and, as selfish as it sounded, he didn't want to go through it himself.

As he opened his locker, Kitty walked up to him. Kitty Pride is another mutant, a teammate of his. He thinks she's kind of scared of him in his true form, but she's slowly getting used to him.

"Hey, did you hear what's going around school?" she asked.

He shook his head.  
"No, what?"

"Everyone's talking about how someone found more mutants,"

Kurt nearly dropped the textbooks he was putting into his locker.

"That was my reaction when I heard!" she continued. "I mean, when I overheard, I just heard words like "boy", "friends", and "wings", but I think they were talking about mutants!"

Kurt sighed. "Kitty, maybe they were talking about mutants, maybe they weren't. Also, maybe it was a boy telling lies to impress everyone... I overheard this kid talking," he explained when he saw her confused look. "He was bragging about how he almost captured mutants... I think,"

Kitty shrugged. "Maybe they weren't talking about mutants. I mean, if there are mutants in Bayville, the Professor would've already found them! …Right?"

*("We did!" the first exclaimed. "Tell 'em, Ricky!")

Yeah, I think the name Ricky popping up will be my trademark. I like it the name.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, read A STORY OF SORTS.


	4. 3

3

Charles Xavier entered Ceribo. Putting the helmet on, he decided to scan the area for more mutants.

_What's this? _he thought. _It's like six kids appeared overnight..._ he scanned the area around Bayville. _Oh, dear. Looks like they have company... and lots of it._

Sorry for this chapter being short. I decided to do the chapters in this story James Patterson-style.

And if you don't know who that is, why are you reading this?

Since this is a short chapter, I'm submitting the next chapter as well.


	5. 4

4

We started flying away from Bayville. Iggy had a point: if everyone knew about us and was going to hunt us down, why stay? It would be just like every place else, except humans can't morph into wolf-like creatures.

Suddenly, a face flashed in my mind. It was a man. He looked old, and he was bald.

"_Maximum Ride,_" he said, his voice elegant, yet booming. "_Come back to Bayville. There are a few things I would like to discuss with you,_"

I looked around at the others. They didn't seem to be hearing him.

This wasn't weird to me. I have had a Voice in my head before. However, I had never had a Voice that was so... direct.

_Why should I come back?_ I thought. _Everyone will be hunting me down in a day or two._

"_Not if you stay with me,_" he said.

_Why should I believe you? _I thought, still watching the others.

That seemed to stump him.

Angel looked over at me. "Max, are you alright?" she asked.

I shut down every thought in my head. I had forgot she could read my mind. Hopefully she didn't see that exchange. One Voice was okay, but two... at least I knew what this Voice might look like. Then again, he/she might be doing that to gain my trust to get me into a trap.

I slowly nodded. "Yeah..."

"_Tell them you're taking them back to Bayville,_" the man in my head said.

_Why? _I asked him.

"_My name is Charles Xavier. I run the Xavier Institute,_"

_No way am I going to some institute again!_

"_No, it's nothing like that. It's a place where mutants can live freely and learn to use their powers,_"

_Why should I believe you?_

"_Come to the mansion your friend spotted. I'll be there to explain everything,_"

_What if this is a trap?_

"_Please, Max. If you arrive and feel like it's a trap after we talk, you can leave._"

_We're talking now._

"_I have a feeling you'll believe me more if we talk face to face._"

_...Alright._

"Guys," I said. "We have to go back to Bayville,"

"_Thank you,_" he said, and then his face disappeared from my mind.

"What?!" Iggy exclaimed. "Did you not hear me back there? Did you forget about those kids chasing us?"

"There's... a man who says if we stay at his place, we won't have to deal that,"

He snorted. "And there's a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, guarded by puppies and kittens,"

"Have I ever been wrong?" I asked.

The flock started to speak.

"Have I ever been wrong _in a way we couldn't get out of_?"

They closed their mouths.

"Have I ever lead you guys purposely into a trap?"

They shook their heads.

"Has there ever been someone who wanted to help us that didn't turn out to be evil?" Gasman asked.

The rest shook their heads again.

"Guys," I said. "Let's just do this. If it's a trap, then we know how to fight our way out of it," I turned to Angel. "You'll probably have a good chance of sleeping in a real bed tonight," I turned to Gassy. "You'll probably have more equipment for bombs," I turned to Nudge. "It's the mansion you spotted out," I turned to Fang. "There will be actual real food,"

They smiled, thinking of the possibilities.

Iggy stared at me with his blank eyes. I could tell he still wanted to leave.

Well, I was saving him best for last. Turning to him, I said, "Think about it: If he's right about everything, he probably knows a lot of genius scientists with great techo stuff..."

His eyes went wide and he gaped. I could tell he knew where I was going with that. Good, I didn't want to say it out loud.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not making any promises here, but-"

"Shut up," he interrupted me. "You swayed me. Let's go.

"Really?"

"If it's a trap, I'm gonna split,"

"Same here," Fang added.

I sighed. For them, that was the best I could do.

We turned around and started heading back.

And I started planing an escape plan, in case things went wrong.


	6. 5

5

We soon touched down on the front lawn of the mansion.

I quickly noticed a small group of people near the door.

The first person I really saw was a teenage boy. I probably noticed him first because he was so tall. He must have been five eight at least. He wore a sweater, regular pants, and sunglasses with red lenses. He looked like someone not to cross with.

The other person was a girl. She looked kind of like Nudge, except she was fair-skined, and had red hair. I know people say that they have red hair, but this girl had red-red hair. She wore a light blue blouse, and light pants.

However, the last person was who startled me most of all. He looked exactly like the man in my head! He was in a wheelchair that had X's as the spokes on the wheels.

I saw Iggy smile. "I like this place already... but that's probably 'cuz I already smell the actual food."

Sure enough, a wonderful smell was drifting over the lawn from the mansion, like someone cooking chocolate chip cookies.

If this was a trap, they sure knew how to lure us in.

"Maximum Ride," the man in the wheelchair said, coming toward me. "I assume these are your friends,"

"I'm Captian Terror," Gasman said.

"Ariel," Angel added.

"Jeff," Iggy added*

"Guys, trust him," I said. "'Captain Terror' is really the Gasman, 'Ariel' is Angel, and 'Jeff' is Iggy. The others are Fang and Nudge,"

He smiled. "Glad that you trust me," he gestured to his friends, who stepped forward. "This is Scott Summers and Jean Grey,"

They nodded and smiled.

"You'll meet the others once we get inside," he continued to me. "We'll talk, and if you choose to stay, I'll set you up some rooms,"

Room_s_? With an s? Man, after all that running, and staying in caves and such, getting back to real rooms would be a dream.

I could see the others were also doing happy dances in their heads over the possibility of being pampered. Even Fang looked excited. Well, excited for him.

However, I decided to remain strong for them. "Sure, let's talk."

I looked over just in time for Angel to shoot her Bambi eyes at me. Yeah, I knew she wanted to stay, no matter what. Well, even though I decided to remain strong, it was getting harder and harder every second I looked at her, so I finally broke contact.

Heading in, we all couldn't help but gape at the hugeness of the place.

Xavier guided me to his study, and motioned for me to sit down on a chair, which I did.

"So, Max," he said. "If I can call you that. What can I say to make you believe that I want to help you and your friends?"

I looked around. "Well," I said. "It's nice to know that you're a real person, and seeing that this mansion is real and all, and how you introduced me to some of your friends... I guess I believe you,"

He smiled. "I thought you would want to know more,"

I quickly thought of all my questions, such as who else was at this mansion, and what happened so he had to be in that wheelchair, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. More times then once, my big mouth had gotten us in trouble. "Uh... no, I don't have any questions,"

"Good. Is it alright if I ask you a few?"

I nodded. "As long as I don't have to answer when I don't want to,"

"Of course. Starting off, is everyone like you?"

"Define 'like me'," Such as, did everyone have a Voice in their head? Was everyone told repeatedly that they were destined to save the world?

"Well, do all of you have wings?"

Easy one. "Yup. Well, Nudge has this thing with computers and such, Gassy can mimic sounds and voices, and Angel can read and sometimes control minds,"

He smiled at the last thing. "Interesting,"

"Oh! And Angel can breathe underwater,"

"Okay. What are your ages?"

"Well..." I didn't really want to give away too much information about us, in case this was an elaborate trap that I didn't notice at first. Then again, I trusted him. "We don't really know our exact ages, but Fang, Iggy and I are fourteen. Nudge is twelve, Gasman is eight, and Angel is six."

"Just as I guessed," he said, and that creeped me out. Could he read my mind?

"Uh, well," I babbled. "We're all really different. Nudge is a talker, while Fang doesn't talk in complete sentences. And Iggy's..." I stopped talking. If this was a trap and Xavier was trying to get me to tell him all about us, it was working. His eyes were gentle, made me feel like I could trust him. I bet the School wished they had someone with those kind of eyes.

"Blind?" he asked.

I nodded. "How did you know?"

"I saw him. Just the way he moved and looked at you and your friends signaled it,"

I blushed. Hopefully no Erasers had that knowledge, or they'd attack him first. Crap.

Then again. Any Eraser would be with Ari, who knows, and would tell them. Double crap.

Suddenly, someone else walked into the office. He was short. He had brown hair that ended into two points. He was muscled.

"I know this ain't your kid, Charles," he said, his voice gruff. "Who is she?"

"This is Maximum Ride," Xavier said, coming toward him. "She and her friends are staying here-"

"For a little while," I interrupted. I didn't want to stay longer than they had to. Last time the flock stayed somewhere for a long time, it turned out to be a trap, and we barely got out of that one.** The time before that... we were at Jeb's.

He smiled at me. "For as long, or short, as you need. Max, this is Logan,"

Logan smiled at me. "Hey,"

I smirked at him. "Hi,"

Xavier put his fingers to his temples. "Let's see... they're in the kitchen... and they met Kurt... and he doesn't have his image inducer on." he frowned.

Logan swore loudly under his breath.

*("I'm Captain Terror," Gasman said.

"Ariel," Angel added.

"Jeff," Iggy added)

_Maximum Ride: School's Out-Forever_, Chapter 14, pages 36-7. Just in case anyone who is reading this who didn't read that book and stupidly asks why I think they'd say that, I can direct them to these pages.

**(Last time the flock stayed somewhere for a long time, it turned out to be a trap, and we barely got out of that one.)

More to add to the timeline: after the flock stays at Anne's. For now on, you guys will just have to infer about the timeline.


	7. 6

6

Kurt Wagner walked into the kitchen. It had been a long week, between everyone in the world finding out about mutants, and his friends getting mad at him for not stepping up and saying he was one of them.

So that's why he didn't notice the five kids sitting around the table, staring at him.

He got himself a snack before he realized the kids. He quickly turned around.

"What does he look like?" Kurt heard one of the boys whisper to another.

"Messy black hair," the second boy said. "Blue fur _all_ of his body, and a blue tail."

Kurt looked at them. "What are you doing here?" it freaked him out that perfect strangers were coming in and out this house.

The little girl looked at him. "We're being perfectly natural,"

"Huh?"

Just then, a girl burst into the room. She had short blond hair with highlights. She was very tall, yet looked so young.

"Sorry for them," she said. "They're a bit... guys, what are you doing in here?!"

Kurt stared at her. "Uh..."

Xavier appeared behind her. "Sorry for this, Kurt. These are our newest house guests,"

The girl nodded and smiled. "Yeah, hi, I'm Max,"

"I'm Fang," the oldest boy said.

"Iggy," the first boy said.

"Nudge," the middle girl said.

"Gasman," the second boy said.

"Angel," the little girl said.

Kurt nodded. "Okay. I'm probably not gonna remember all your names," he turned to Xavier. "Can I speak to you in the hall?"


	8. 7

7

Once they were out of the room, I turned to my flock. "Okay, what are you doing?"

"We came in here to eat," Nudge said. "We didn't mean to see the tailed smurf!"

"Don't call him a tailed smurf," I said. "Call him by his name,"

"What's his name?" Fang asked.

"... Okay, I don't know that, but I _do_ know that you aren't supposed to just run around, appear in random places, and scare the living crap out of people!"

"Sorry..." they apologized.

"Just don't do it again,"


	9. 8

8

Once they were out in the hall, Kurt turned to Xavier. "Okay, who are they?"

"Excuse me?" Xavier asked.

"Are they mutants? Are they just friends, or friends of friends?"

"I found them using Ceribro. Yes, they are mutants. I was hoping that they would move in, but Max seems to be against that," he sighed.

"Who's Max?"

"She's the oldest girl,"

"Oh..."


	10. 9

9

Shortly, the flock and I met everyone, and discovered that they were all mutants, too.

As I guessed, Xavier could read and control minds. It kind of freaked me out, but, for some reason, I trusted him with those powers more than Angel.

Scott Summers wore the sunglasses because if he didn't, his eyes would blast these rays, or something. I wasn't really listening after I discovered that the explanation would be more than three sentences.

Jean Grey could also read and control minds, and she could move objects with her mind.

Kurt Wagner, the 'tailed smurf', could transport himself from one place to another.

Logan was the one who freaked me out the most. He had these, lack of a better word, claws that came out of his hands, and were all silvery. Xavier told us they were antimantium claws.

And Gasman was describing this all to Iggy. I had to remember to give him points for this later.

That night, as we were all sitting around the den, talking, a couple of girls came in. One had her hair in a high ponytail. She wore a light purple shirt and blue pants.

The other one was who caught my attention. Her hair was short, and brunette with a couple of white shreaks.

And she wore a_ cloak!_

I saw the others, except Iggy, who was still having a conversation with Kurt, give the cloaked girl a double take, and start staring at her.

"Uh," the first girl said. "I found Rouge in our room,"

"Ah," Xavier said. "You've decided to join us again, Rouge,"

The cloaked girl, who I was guessing to be Rouge, nodded. "Yeah," she said. I was surprised by her southern drawl. It made her voice sound much different than I expected. "Yeah. The... uh, the people I was staying with... I didn't want to bother them anymore,"*

"We saw you sneak in earlier!" Nudge blurted. "I think it was two or three hours ago. She snuck in through a window. I wanted to come over and tell you, but Max said it'll be a bad idea."

Rouge stared at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Nudge," she said. "Well, my real name's Monique, but I'd rather be called Nudge. Well, I'd rather have a name like Tiffany-Krystal**, but everyone calls me Nudge. We're all here 'cuz the-"

I clapped a hand over her mouth. "Uh, the Professor invited us here," I finished for her.

She nodded and took my hand off her mouth. "That's what I what I was gonna say."

I couldn't take any chances. No one needed to know about the Erasers, thank you very much. If this was a trap (which I was thinking less and less about the situation), if they knew we knew, bad things could happen. If this was not a trap (which I was thinking more and more), well, they didn't need to know. The information was on a need-to-know basis, and until the Erasers worked up the nerve to come and attack us, Xavier and the others didn't need to know.

Rouge slowly nodded.

"I'm Max," I explained. "Over there's Fang. Iggy's the one talking to Kurt. You already met Nudge. Gasman is on the other side of Iggy. Angel's the one playing with her dog."

"Hey," Total said.

Everyone but the Flock froze.

"Did that dog just talk?" Kurt asked.

I slowly nodded. "Yeah, we picked him up at... a place we were. Turns out he talks," Another thing I wasn't going to tell them about was the Institute. Or even the School, for that matter. That was on a need-to-know basis, and they didn't need to know.

Xavier stared at him (Total). "Intriguing..."

-_END OF CHAPTER 9_-

*("Yeah. The... uh, the people I was staying with... I didn't want to bother them anymore,")

In the series, everyone might know that when Rouge leaves, she's going over to Magneto's side. However, I wanted to make it that they didn't know. It'll pay off later in the story.

**("Well, I'd rather have a name like Tiffany-Krystal)

Yeah, another reference to _School's Out-Forever_.

One thing I think I forgot: Total! He has to be in the story, especially if it's going to take place after they all stayed at Anne's, who I personally hated ever since she said, "I'm putting you in school", and the anger grew for her when she said, "I want to adopt all of you," I was yelling at the book when she got mad and starting threatening the flock when Iggy disappeared (And my mom entered the room and asked, "Who are you yelling at?" and I answered "A book, and it won't listen!") I mean, who does she think she is?! Those kids weren't hers! She should be happy they stayed more than a week!

Then she turned out to be an evil character, like Jeb. Who does _he_ think he is, king of the world?! He sure acts like it. 'Max, go save the world', 'Max, you have to save the world'. If I was Max, [when he first told her she had to save the world], I would've thrown the hot chocolate at his face and deemed him crazy.

...Oh, man I'm starting to rant again. Sorry.


	11. 10

10

That night, we sorted out rooms. Fang and I each got our own room. For some reason, Iggy wanted to share a room with Kurt. Thank god Kurt was more than willing to share. Nudge, Gasman, and Angel all wanted to share a room.

After I told everyone good-night, and tucked the younger ones in, I went to my room. When I first saw it, I was surprised by its size. It was twice as big as my old room at Jeb's, and three times as nice!

I wasn't in bed for ten minutes when Angel came in, dragging Total and Celeste, her stuffed bear.

"I don't like the new room," she said. "It's creepy, with all the shadows. Plus, Nudge snores,"

"Come here," I said. I knew she just wanted to sleep with me. She shared a room with Nudge back at Jeb's house, and never once did she complain about Nudge snoring.

Plus, she acquired the power to control people's minds. Even though I forbid her to use it on the Flock, I was still a bit scared of her using it on me.

She hopped up and got under the covers next to me. Total lay down next to her.

"Thanks," she whispered, and soon she was asleep.

I sighed. I wish I could sleep as soundly as her.


	12. 11

11

Kurt was sitting in his bed when Iggy came in. Once again, he (Iggy) didn't really look at him, and didn't get slightly scared, like pretty much everyone else.

"Hey," Iggy said to the wall.

Kurt gave him a weird look. Was Iggy crazy? "I'm over here," he (Kurt) said.

Iggy turned to face him. "Oh, hi," he was blushing a little.

"Uh..." Iggy looked down. "There's something I need to tell you... I'm blind,"

"Really?"

He nodded. "That's probably why I appear like I'm acting weird," he sat down on his bed.

"So... you're blind... You can't see me... you don't know what I look like."

Iggy nodded, nodded, and then shook his head. "Besides Gassy's vague description, I don't know what you look like at all. And based on his description, I think you'd look cool,"

"Really?"

He nodded again. "Well, I used to be able to see,"

"How'd you lose your vision?"

"Promise you you won't tell?"

Kurt nodded. Then, he remembered Iggy couldn't see him and said, "I swear I won't,"

Iggy leaned toward him. "Us, the six of us, were held captive at the School. The School is this place where evil scientists perform experiments on humans and animals. Us, we were born only ninety-eight percent human. The other two percent... avian,"

"Like birds?"

Iggy nodded. "We all have wings... Well, they tried enhancing my night vision, but ended up riding me of vision all together. Well, a few years ago, a whitecoat, Jeb, helped us escape and took us to his house. We all stayed there for two years until, suddenly, Jeb disappeared. Then..."

"What?"

"We got attacked,"

"By who?"

Iggy gaped. He was babbling, the exact thing Max warned him against. He didn't even know if Kurt was good or bad, and he just started telling him all their secrets. If he hadn't stopped himself, he probably would have told Kurt about the Erasers, and Jeb, and Anne. If this was another test that Jeb was giving Max, well, Iggy was failing it for her. She was probably in her room right now, being as silent and tought as can be, and he was being a blabbermouth.

Kurt saw the worried look on Iggy's face and put his hands up. "Okay, I don't have to know. Well... where were all your parents all during this?"

"We didn't know them," Iggy couldn't help but answer. "We were taken away from them as babies," Well, that was vague enough. If that was another question on this test, Iggy probably passed it on Jeb's standards, considering how weird Jeb could be, wanting them to keep their mouths shut one minute, and wanting them to tell the whole world their secrets the next.

"Did you ever meet them?" Kurt asked.

No, Kurt wasn't on their side. If he was, Iggy would be able to sense it. He was pretty good with those kinds of things. And if he wasn't a bad guy, that meant Iggy could tell him whatever he wanted."Well, Nudge thought she saw her mother once... and I actually did. Max and Fang saw their pictures on the News, and went to go check it out that night. Then, when they found their house, they took me there. My parents checked me over and deemed me their son,"

"So why aren't you with them?"

"...I left. I mean, they were my real parents, but they just wanted to make money off of my life story, and had eight different magazines in a bidding war for it."

Kurt sighed. "Sheesh. I should feel lucky about my life,"

Iggy nodded. "No, all of us mutants have it rough,"

"Tell me about it. I was raised by these people who found me when I was a baby, so I didn't really know my real parents. A year or two ago, I got the opportunity to come here,"

"Did _you_ ever find your real parents?"

"Well, I found my real mother: Mystique. And it turns out she adopted a girl, Rouge, the very Rouge you just met."

"So she's your sister?"

"Sort-of,"

"I wish I had a sister. The only blood relatives of the six of us are the Gasman and Angel,"

()()

This is kind of a catch-up chapter, so you can get a better idea of the timeline. Also, it''l pay off in the next chapter and the rest of the story for Kurt and Iggy to know about each other, and tell each other so many things.


	13. 12

12

A figure stood in the shadows of the mansion under Kurt's window, holding a transmitter.

"Aw, how sweet," the figure said, their voice scratchy, yet young. "You're sharing! Well, too bad for you, since this information is going straight to my father,"

()()

Told you!

And, once again, I'm posting the next chapter along with this one. Kinda mean to post just two paragraphs and making you guys wait until tomorrow for the next one, especially when I make this so interesting.


	14. 13

13

I woke up the next day with Angel next to me, hugging me. Total was laying across my chest.

Sighing, I slowly got up, being careful not to disturb them. Just because I couldn't help but get up at the crack of dawn didn't mean that she had to get in the habit, too.

In the kitchen, I found this man sitting in one of the chairs. He looked normal, except he was covered with light blue fur. Light blue fur. I could handle that after seeing Erasers in their full form. Compared to Erasers, this guy looked like a giant teddy bear. Actually, even not compared to the Erasers, he looked like a giant teddy bear!

"Max!" he said. "I've heard to much about you!" His voice sounded familiar. Maybe I've been watching too many reruns.*

I grinned nervously. "Is that so? Well, I've heard nothing about you,"**

He smiled. "I'm Hank McCoy. The Professor told me all about you this morning. So sorry I couldn't meet you yesterday, but I was away on a trip,"

I shrugged. "Well, I'm meeting you now... What did the Professor say about me?"

"Not much. He just told me you and your friends were mutants, and staying for a while."

Suddenly, Kurt, Scott, Jean, and the girl who came in the other night with Rouge came rushing down the stairs.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We're going to school," Scott said.

"You want to go with us?" Kurt asked.

I shook my head. My memories of school and the School didn't end well.

"Suit yourself," Jean grabbed an energy bar and started munching on it. I flinched as I remembered how similar Anne's idea of breakfast was.

()()

*(His voice sound familiar. Maybe I've been watching too many reruns.) In case you don't know, the man who played Hank McCoy in the third X-Men movie is Kelsey Grammar, who played the title character on the '90s TV show _Frasier_. I'm good at recognizing voices and people, and knowing who played who and who on what and what, such as the Doctor Who episode _Dinosaurs on a Spaceship _(just that title alone makes you want to watch it to see what it's all about, right?) there were two Harry Potter veterans: Arthur Weasley, who played Rory's dad, Brian; and Filch, who played the evil guy (sorry, I forgot his name, and I don't know their real names).

There I go, ranting again. Sorry.

**("Is that so? Well, I've heard nothing about you,") That was a line from an episode of Big Bang Theory. I forgot the episode title, but its when Stephanie meets Penny.


	15. 14

14

Nudge went outside that afternoon. Since Max decided that the flock wasn't going to school, she (Nudge) decided that she had to find a way to entertain herself. And outside the mansion looked exciting.

She didn't plan on going outside by herself. However, Max wanted to explore inside; Fang said he needed rest; Iggy and Gassy wanted to see what kind of stuff was around, which meant they were seeing what materials they had to make bombs; and Angel said she'd explore with Max.

So that left Nudge on her own. Well, she didn't mind. She could talk to herself, and for once there wouldn't tell her to shut up.

Suddenly she stopped and looked up. Yup, just as she thought she saw, there was a figure in the sky.


	16. 15

15

Fang walked down the hall, listening at doors. Finally, he heard the voice he wanted, and slowly opened the door.


	17. 16

16

I walked down the hall with Angel and Total.

"Are you sure you guys don't want to go with Nudge?" I asked for the millionth time. I didn't like Nudge out on her own.

She (Angel) shook her head. "I feel safer inside with you,"

I knew what she meant. She felt as if the Erasers couldn't capture as easily if she was inside the mansion.

Reading my mind, she smiled and nodded at me.

_I feel the same way,_ I thought.

She smiled and nodded again.

"I hate this walking," Total complained. "Someone carry me,"

"No," I said. "Angel already has her hands full with Celeste. I'd do it except for one thing: I don't want to.*"

Angel tucked Celeste in her belt and held out her arms. Total jumped into them and stuck his tongue out at me.

I sighed.

"You know," Angel said. "I think I should be the leader, since I'm so good with everyone,"

"And every time you say that, I think I should lock you in a dark closet. I think I have this leader thing under control,"

"I really think that-"

"Angel! Shut up! No one cares about what you think!" I don't know what came over me, but suddenly I was shouting at her, and couldn't make myself stop.

Her eyes got all watery, and I knew I crossed a line.

Even Total gave me the Look.

I ran away from them, scared. Yeah, my constant mood swings will make me the better choice as leader. _Not._

I was confused. Why did all of a sudden she think she had to be the leader? Wasn't I a good leader? Was this some sort of tactic to tell me I was doing a crappy job?

I was so deep in my thoughts I didn't notice I had bumped into someone until I heard a scruffy voice say, "Hey, watch where you're going,"

Stepping back, I saw that I ran into Logan.

"Sorry!" I apologized. "I didn't mean to run into you!"

He sighed. "Well, you were just the person I wanted to see. I wanted to tell you that I saw a couple of your friends head down a hall with a bunch of assorted materials."

Iggy and Gassy! Man, were they going to be in trouble once I caught up to them! Even though we weren't going to stay long, they didn't need to get us thrown out into the streets by setting off a bomb!

"Thank you," I said.

"You can thank me by not ramming into me again," he said.

I nodded, and took off running.

()()

*(I'd do it except for one thing: I don't want to.") That was one of the many mottos of my 7th/8th grade Algebra teacher.


	18. 17

17

Iggy's arms were straining under all the stuff he was carrying.

"Tell me again why we need all this stuff," he said. He knew that if Gazzy was locked in a non-windowed padded cell with a pixie stick and bowl of jello, he could make something explode.

Gasman was a couple steps ahead of him, holding just as much stuff. "You never know what you'll need when,"

"The Erasers stopped dead in their tracks as we started to enter Bayville, you never see Jeb without one or two Eraser backups, and Anne Walker is either back at her house, or with Jeb, complaining of how we didn't cooperate this time."

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared,"

"Being prepared is having a few small quantities of materials in case of emergency, Erasers or boredom,"

"That's because we didn't have many materials and limited resources. Now... we can go bananas,"

Suddenly, a man rounded the corner in front of them, a man covered with blue fur.

"Oh, you must be Max's friends!" he (the man) said. "My name is Hank McCoy..." he eyed the materials in the boys' arms. "What do you have there?"


	19. 18

18

Fang entered the room and got an eyeful of Rouge's backside.

"AHHH!" he screamed.

She turned around and saw him. "AHHHH!"

He quickly backed out of the room. "Sorry, I-"

"What the heck were you thinking?!" Rouge exclaimed, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself. "What would make you think that you can wander into my room while I was naked?! Is that what people do where you're from?! Well, even Kurt has more manners than you!"

"Sorry-"

"I'm not done speakin'! Why did you need in my room?! Even if you had a perfectly good reason to go in, you _knock_ first! You don't just barge in on somebody! At least, you don't barge in on somebody _here!_"

"I-"

"Oh, let me hear your side of the story. Just _let_ me,"

"I... I wanted to talk to you before. I think... I've seen you somewhere before,"


	20. 19

19

"Hmm," Nudge thought aloud. "Too big to be a bird, too small to be a plane. Too graceful to be a flying Eraser, and the Flock's inside... I give up, what is it?"


	21. 20

20

I made my way upstairs and eventually found Iggy and the Gasman being busted by Hank. Well, Hank was talking to them, and their eyes were glazed over.

AKA, the time for me to step in.

"Boys," I said. "Were you guys planning on making more bombs?"

They nodded sadly.

"What did I tell you about making bombs?" I asked.

"Only during attack," they muttered.

"Now, put that stuff away and remember this conversation,"

They walked away sadly.

Hank stared at me. "How do you do that?"

I shrugged. I hadn't given it much thought before. "Guess they know that I mean business,"

He walked away, confused and slightly dazed.


	22. 21

21

"What?!" Rouge exclaimed.

Fang shrugged. "Nothing much, but I think I've seen you around before. I just recognize your face,"

She looked away, and back at him. "I don't think so."

"Bu-"

"You haven't seen me before. You're just hallucinating," and then she slammed the door in his face, leaving him more confused than ever.


	23. 22

22

Nudge took off after the figure in the sky. Stretching out her wings, she thought, _Yeah, this is more like it. That's the last time I'm going twenty hours without flying._

She mimicked the figure's movements, swooping and gliding, and performing actions she didn't even know she could do.

Finally, just as she was getting bored, the figure started swooping down. She did as well, landing a few seconds and a few yards short of him, in a patch of shrubs. She hid herself in them, and looked out a peephole.

There was a street. An elderly woman was trying to cross it, but with no such luck. No one acted like they knew what the color red on a streetlight meant.

Suddenly, a young man swooped, literally swooped, in out of nowhere and somehow flew the elderly woman across the street. Nudge couldn't help but gasp.

The man had _wings_!

He flew off the way he came before the woman even knew what happened. Nudge jumped out of the shrubs and took off, flying after him.

Using a few techniques she learned from the hawks, she finally caught up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

He jumped up, frightened, and took off, flying twice as fast as he did before.

Well, this was nothing for Nudge. She took off after him, and finally managed to fly in front him, making him stop dead.

"Please don't kill me!" he automatically pleaded, shielding his eyes from her. "I did nothing wrong!"

She gave him a weird stare. Was he crazy? "Why would I want to kill you?" she asked.

He slowly eased his arms away from his face. "_Oh._ You're _not_ him,"

"You're right," she said. "I'm not a him of any kind,"

He got a full look at her, and his eyes widened. "Whaaat?! You have wings, too?!"

She slowly nodded, confused. Why was he so shocked about her wings?

Then it hit her: he wasn't part of a flock. He probably didn't see the wings of his friends every day. He probably even didn't see the wings of his friends, period. Actually, he probably didn't see his friends, period. He was all alone in the world.

And she knew how that felt.

He motioned for her to land, and he followed him.

Once they hit the ground, he turned to her. "Who are you, anyway?" he asked.

"They call me Nudge," she said. "Who are you?"

"...Er, Angel," he said.


	24. 23

23

That incident with the boys made me really think about why I was the leader. Not only was it because I was the oldest, but I was the strongest, the fastest, and the most willing.

Also, it turns out, I know everyone the best. I know exactly where Nudge likes her back scratched. I know exactly how to comfort Angel whenever she loses Total or Celeste. I know exactly how to break bad news to the younger kids.

And now Angel wanted to be all that, and more. The only reason I didn't let her be the leader is because I didn't want to see her crash and burn.

And I certainly didn't want to see her _not_ crash and burn.

Besides, being a leader was all I knew. Sure, there had been a few times I wasn't sure of myself, or I didn't know what to do, but I got over it. I didn't want to give all that up and find out that there was someone who could actually do the job better than me, especially someone eight years younger than me.

I mean, I had expected this from Fang and Iggy, who are only few months older than me. However, they never protested, so I let my guard down. And then Angel said she wanted to be the leader.

I could see why she thought she could. She was someone everyone trusted. She was nimble and quick, almost as good of a fighter then me.

And she had that mind-control thing going on for her.

I was so deep in thought I ran into a wall.

It surprised me. It was like there wasn't supposed to be a wall there. At least my senses told me there shouldn't be a wall there.

Feeling all around it, I was expecting to just feel a wall. What happened soon after surprised me.


	25. 24

24

Fang walked down the hall, dazed. He soon found Max, feeling a wall.

"...What are you doing?" he asked.

She looked at him. "I think this wall is a door," she said. "I haven't been able to open it yet, but it just _feels_ like there's supposed to be a hallway here."

"Remember what I told you," he said. "Just because it feels like there should be a hall there doesn't mean that there actually is a hallway there,"

As he came toward her, he tripped over a hall table.

"_Like I told you,_" Max mimicked. "_Just because it feels like there should be a clear space there doesn't mean that there's actually a free space there_,"

"Oh, shut up and help me up," he grumbled.

As Max grabbed his arm and pulled him up to his feet, she noticed there was now an opening in the wall.

"What the..." she muttered.

Fang noticed the opening. "I forbid you from going in," he said.

She snorted. "Like that ever worked before," she started heading inside it.

He held her back. "Don't you think that Xavier knows about this? We better just leave this alone. He'd probably get mad at us for snooping,"

She sighed. You can't beat logical thinking. "...Fine," she finally said. "Put the table back how you find it and we'll get away from here," she eyed him. "I thought you were going to rest,"

"Uh, I couldn't sleep," he lied.

"_Sure,_"


	26. 25

25

Nudge shrugged. "I already know someone named Angel,"

The boy frowned. "Well, Angel isn't actually my real name. I just use it as an alias."

"Well, I use Nudge as an alias, too. My real name's Monique. What's _your_ real name?"

"...Warren,"

She shrugged again. "Eh, it's an okay name, but I can see why you'd wanna use an alias,"

"...My full name is Warren Worthington III,"

She gasped. "You don't mean that you're related to that rich guy who bought everything in New York,"

"...He's my father," he sighed, and sat down on a nearby rock. "He hated the idea of me having wings. He even tried to take away my wings, but I rebelled.*" He put his head in his hands.

She sat down next to him. "That sounds terrible. I never knew my parents. I mean, I saw my mother once, but that could have been anyone. However, Iggy _met_ his parents, but they just wanted to make money off of him,"

Warren looked up. "What did you say?"

"I never-"

"I heard that part. Who's Iggy?"

"One of the f- I mean, one of my friends,"

"Is he... like us?"

Nudge nodded. "Well, he's blind, but he had wings and can fly, yeah,"

"...Do you have other friends like us?"

She nodded again. "Four others,"

Warren's eyes widened.

Nudge smiled at him. To him, this was probably like his birthday and Christmas rolled into one, at Disney World. He was discovering not only one person with wings like him, but six! This was enough to make any alone winged person sure that there was hope in the world.

()()

* (He even tried to take away my wings, but I rebelled.") I decided to add that into the story. I know that's from the third movie, not the Evolution TV series, but I wanted to add that, to expand more on Warren.


	27. 26

26

Later that day, Scott, Jean, Kurt, and Kitty came home. Iggy was happy, because of Kurt. They ran off, the Gasman trailing behind. Whatever happened that night made Iggy and Kurt the best of friends.

Shortly after they came, Nudge came back inside with a boy. He was tall, and had super-blond hair, as blond as Gazzy and Angel's hair. He wore a trenchcoat that went down past his knees.

"Uh, Max, can I talk to you?" Nudge asked.

"I don't know..." I wanted to talk to Kitty, find out what her power is.

"It's kind of important," she said.

"...Well, okay," Kitty could wait.

I let Nudge pull me and the boy upstairs into her room.

"What is it?" I asked, after she closed the door. I was a bit freaked out. Who was this boy? Could we trust him?

The boy took off his coat. He had wings.

I couldn't help but gasp. Looking around him, I asked, "So what's your 'kind of important' thing, Nudge?"

"This is it," she said.

"No,"I said. "This is _really important_ thing. This is so important that it overrides everything else."

"Thank you," the boy said.

"Don't mention it," I said. I turned back to Nudge. "So this is what you consider 'kind of important'?"

She shrugged. "Well, I consider it 'really super important' but I didn't think you would,"

"Hello. Have we met?" I asked. "I'm the one who when there's mutant activity, I have to be the first to know."

"Well, I wanted your opinion,"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"I wanted your opinion," she repeated, looked at me weirdly.

I couldn't blame her. I felt weird. "Since when did you need my opinion on everything?" I asked.

"Since always,"

That's what I shut down. I didn't know how or why two little words could have such an impact on me.

Maybe it was because it kinda proved I wasn't as great of a leader as I thought I was. Here I was, thinking I was so great, and such a perfect leader of the flock, and the others felt like they had to ask my permission on everything, and tiptoe around me.

But Angel saw that, she saw everything. That was why she wanted to be the leader, because she didn't want to see _me_ crash and burn. I wouldn't put it past her. She was a pretty smart kid.

"Max?" I heard Nudge ask. "Are you okay?"

All of a sudden, I couldn't stand to look at her. All this time, I was letting everyone down, including her. All the times I've ever said no to her flashed in my mind, like a slideshow. A sad slideshow.

Running out of the room, I was trying my hardest not to cry. I had realized that I was the most selfish, bossy, shallowest person I knew.

Now I knew how Ari felt, having realized this a long time ago.


	28. 27

27

Eventually, in my room, I calmed down. However, I still lay there, on my bed, thinking. Apparently Nudge told the others what happened, since no one came in, wanting something, or wanting me to check something out. It was good. I think it was the most time I had ever had alone, besides at the School.

Oh, the School, such a horrible place. Filled with whitecoats, and their nasty experiments. And to think, Jeb was a part of that. Why did I think I could trust him for one second?

Because he didn't seem like a whitecoat. Instead of running mazes, he had us playing tag. Instead of cages, we got beds. Instead of electric shocks, we got him fixing us up when we got hurt.

Instead of a whitecoat, we got a dad.

I guess my biggest weakness is being pampered. When I'm pampered or have the possibility of being pampered, I let my guard down. It's happened to me more than once, and I always ended up hating myself for it.

Angel didn't show any of these things. Sure, she loved Jeb, but she dealed with his "death" the best.

...Maybe she was best as leader.


	29. 28

28

The figure sat under Max's window. "That's it, Max," they said. "Continue thinking you're the worst. You're falling just into my plan."


	30. 29

29

_Don't think like that._

I sighed. _Hello, Voice,_ I thought. _Long time no annoy._

_Don't think you can't be the leader of your flock._

_And why not? _I thought.

It didn't answer. Of course. It never answered direct questions. And why? I didn't know who it was. I couldn't strangle it until it gave me a good answer. It was smart that way.

_...Just get out of Bayville,_ it said.

I sighed. _If the Erasers won't come after us, we're staying._

_Think about it: If the Erasers are too scared to follow you, then it really isn't safe._

_Did you get that off of some sicko Hallmark card?_ I thought. I knew what it meant, but I didn;t even want to think of the possibility.

_Max. Listen to me._

_I'm listening, I'm listening. It's just... if this place is rouge, I was the one who convinced everyone to stay, so I..._

_Wouldn't look like such a hot-shot leader? _It finished for me.

_Yeah, you could say that._

_If you leave now, when Bayville goes rouge, you'll look like the savior and everyone will never question your leadering skills again._

_Yeah, but what if it _never_ goes rouge? Then I'll look like a fearful idiot._

_Bayville is going to go rouge. There's no doubt about that._


	31. 30

30

Fang sat in the den, pretending to read a magazine, but was really thinking. _What's happened to Max? Why is she acting so weird?_

He looked over at Angel, who was talking with Kitty. _Ah... Angel. But just because she said a couple times that she should be the leader of the flock is no reason for Max to get upset. Max is tough normally, but she gets upset at the littlest things._

He looked back at his magazine. _She doesn't think of anyone. Sure, she 'does what's best for the flock', but really she's just following her own wishes, and the wishes of this 'Voice' of hers. She's the boss of everyone, and decides what everyone should be doing at every second, and lashes out when something doesn't go to plan._

He got up and decided to go check out his blog. Since Kitty had already given him permission to use her laptop whenever, he went to her room and started looking through his new email messages.

...Oh, there it was. Whenever he deleted the message, it just showed up again:

_One of your number is a traitor._

**This is getting interesting. All these negative thoughts from Fang about Max, plus this message, plus everything else will all tie in at the end.**

**Reviews are applauded, and followers are loved!**


	32. 31

31

I woke up on my bed. It was dark. My clock said it was 10:45.

_Damn, I fell asleep, _I thought. I wanted to tuck the younger kids in bed. Having realized I fell asleep broke my heart.

Just as I was going to fall asleep again, I heard a noise. It sounded like someone sneaking out of a window. It alerted both my ears and gut, and they both told me to check it out.

I got up and opened the window. Pushing out the screen was simple (you'd think a rich guy would have better screens on his windows) and soon I easing myself out.

My eyes adjusting to the light, I saw someone sneaking out of the next window over.

Getting down from here would be easy. Bricks stuck out all over the wall, and I used them as steps to hop down. Then I started following the figure.

It wasn't hard, until we reached the wooded area. Just as I lost the figure and was about to give up, I saw them stop, so I snuck up behind them.

It was Rouge, and she was talking into a mini-transmitter.

I grabbed her and spun her around. "Ordering a pizza?" I snarled.

"Yeah," she snarled back. "You want pepperoni?"

That took me off guard. The last time I had asked that question, the person broke down crying.

She smiled at me. "Glad you're here. They're coming to these exact coordinates, and it'll be easier if you're right here with me," she dropped the transmitter and grabbed me by the arms.

I struggled. "Rouge-Who's coming?"

She laughed. She sounded so evil, especially with her southern drawl. "You know," she said, suddenly losing her accent. "Anne, Jeb and them,"

My eyes widened. "Wha-What?" I stuttered. This was shocking. Rouge was with the School? "Rouge-" I started.

"Don't call me Rouge," she said.

"Well, I don't know any of your other names?"

"Sure you do. You use it about every day. Your friends say it about once every hour."

That confused me. Who would she be? And I heard her name before, let alone several times a day? Well, she couldn't be Jeb. She was too skinny, and besides, she just said he was coming.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no. She couldn't, just couldn't be-

"Max," she said, smiling.


	33. 32

32

"Max II?" I gasped. She was the one that Ari used to replace me, after he kidnapped me. Then Jeb had me fight her. I beat her, beating everyone's expectations, and then not killing her, making the School whitecoats mad that I was further not following the plan.

She nodded, still looking smug. She whipped of her wig and scrubbed off her makeup.

"So Rouge is really you?" I asked, not really believing it, all though the evidence was in front of me: me.

She shook her head. "No, Rouge is an actual person. However, due to her habit of running away and staying away for a long time, she was the perfect person for me to impersonate. I came in and set up microphones, cameras, and mind scanners everywhere. Now, I've got the perfect information on everyone, including your flock, for all my masters!"

I admit, she might have had the upper hand, if she was telling the truth. However, if she was bluffing, she still had the upper hand, since I was believing her.

"And why are you telling me this?" I asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear her say it.

"Because I'm going to keep you hostage!" she yelled, and put a hood over my head.

_Wow, that was really not what I was expecting,_ I thought.

And then everything went dark.

I woke up in a dark room. Even though I couldn't see anything, I just knew it was a room of pure evil.

Suddenly, I faintly heard an announcment being played:

"Attention, freaks! You are being watched! You have been watched for quite some time! We've got your Max, and if you don't surrender yourselves, we will kill her!"

For once, I hoped no one came. Not only did I not need to lose any flock members, but I bet Xavier didn't need to lose any students.

This was showing how much I valued everyone: I was willing to die for them.

Suddenly, a light got turned on. It blinded my eyes, and I squinted to see who it was.

Just as I thought, it was Jeb. He looked at me, worried, just as he always did.

"How are they treating you, Max?" he asked, just as he always did.

I shook the chains that I suddenly realized were around my arms. "How do you think, moron?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't have to be this way,"

"No, it doesn't," I replied. "You can let me out and help me and the Flock escape. Oh no," I was slowly turning snarky. "That would be against your 'master's' wishes,"

"I have no master-" he started.

"I could believe you," I began. "Or I could be smart: not believe you. Why are you even here? Just to rub my nose in the fact that you could find another original way to capture me? Well, I got news for you, buddy: my friends aren't going to fall for this plan, so be prepared to kill me, cos I don't want to be killed by anyone but _you_,"

He gave me a strange look. "Why would I kill you?"

"Well, the other me said that if everyone didn't come to get me, I'd be dead,"

He shook his head. "You know this didn't have to happen. If only you had killed her-"

I glared at him. "You know me. I don't kill."

"There wasn't meant to be two of you,"

"Then you shouldn't have _made_ two of me!" I yelled. Why can't they get that in their tiny heads? "If there couldn't be two of me forever, then you shouldn't have made a forever copy of me. You think the scientists would be able to figure that out! Even you should be smart enough to know that! Now get out of my sight before I manage to break free of these shackles and _bash your head in!"_

He sighed and tisked. "...Save the world, Max. Remember that."

I shook my head. "I've learned to do the opposite of what you say."


	34. 33

EPILOGE: AFTERTHOUGHTS

Welcome to Fang's Blog

Date: Already too late!

You are visitor number number: the counter's still broken. Starting to tick me off

This is Max:

I got saved, of course. Do ya think that my flock would leave me to die? Turns out they'd die for me as well.

We got help from the X-Men. Who are the X-Men, you ask? Well, it turns out, that's the name of the crime-fighting team Xavier and the occupants of the mansion form. (Hopefully I didn't reveal anything too drastic – I think the world already knows about them)

Part of the rescue plan was to randomly fling bombs at where _they_ were keeping me. One of the (smaller) bombs sorta hit my wing. I wanted to leave after I was away from _them, _but after examination, Xavier and one of his friends, Hank, examined it and said I should stay a while.

So here I am, typing on Kitty's laptop. It was Fang's idea. He said this could be something to help you readers piece together everything. Oh, now he's telling me to write more details.

Let's just say if one of your friends is acting strange and out of character, it might be your doppelganger (thanks to spell check, I spelled it right). My doppelganger dressed like one of the X-Men's friends, Rouge. She then kidnapped me, and held me hostage. She then told my friends to come get me, or she'll kill me. Man, thinking of doppelgangers makes me think of a show I once saw. There were these flesh things that looked exactly like people, and after an electric shock came to life and tried to kill the humans. It freaked the younger kids out. Fang loved it. I hated it, especially since I was the only willing to describe the scenes to Iggy. And it would've been hard without the words 'bowtie' 'gangers' and 'flesh'.

But I digress.

Jeb appeared again, and instead of letting me free, he scolded me! And kept telling me to save the world. Really annoying...

Well, I have access to Fang's email, so I'll answer some of it for him:

Ginger from New York says...

U guys r so awesome I wanna be just like u

Well, unless you were born with wings, you're out of luck. And you don't really want to be like us – trust me. -Max

Jenni from Kissimme says...

Fang do you have a girlfriend?

I've seen too many of these kind of messages, so I'm gonna tell this to all the girls who asked: Fang has no time for a girlfriend. -Max

David from Cardiff says...

Next time you're in England stop by.

Sorry, but if you help us, you'll be in trouble. You're risking a lot just to e-mail us. -Max

That's all from the blog of the bird kids. Fang would thank you for reading, and ask you to continue protesting, or whatever.

-Max


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